Unorganized Sector of Workers: Rural Artisans
An important component of non-farm segment is the unorganized sector of workers, especially in the rural population. A noticeable aspect is the existence of artisans in this informal sector. These artisans comprise blacksmiths, carpenters, weavers (carpets, durries, khesh, sarees, etc.), potters, mudha makers, hand tool makers, farm implement makers, metalwares (silver, brass, copper) makers, sculpturists (wood, metal clay, stone), handicraft makers, etc. These artisans, on one hand, are regarded as custodians of the heritage of India, and on the other, play an important role in the village life through their repairs and maintenance services. This informal sector possesses vast potential for opening-up employment opportunities, generation of rural income, and strengthening of purchasing power of the rural people. A special feature of these artisans is that they live in clusters, some of which are depicted in Table 1.
Table 1: Some Artisan clusters in the country
|
Place |
State |
No. of households |
Potters |
|||
1 |
Nawalgarh |
Rajasthan |
200 |
2 |
Dundlod |
Rajasthan |
50 |
3 |
Narola |
Himachal Pradesh |
75 |
4 |
Dhulkari |
Himachal Pradesh |
100 |
5 |
Kandwa |
Uttar Pradesh |
100 |
6 |
Khadgaon Kalan |
Madhya Pradesh |
75 |
7 |
Ranibandh |
West Bengal |
150 |
8 |
Thozukkal |
Kerala |
100 |
9 |
Kasharipara |
Meghalaya |
250 |
Blacksmiths |
|||
10 |
Loharpura |
Rajasthan |
500 |
11 |
Sampla |
Haryana |
200 |
Carpenters |
|||
12 |
Ladnu |
Rajasthan |
150 |
13 |
Chhuchhukwas |
Haryana |
100 |
Current Status according to NCEUS
The report of National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganized Sector (NCEUS) states that 836 million Indians (77% of total population) live on an income less than Rs 20/day. The irony is that 50% of this huge number constitutes 92% of our workforce (457.5 million), which implies that 422.7 million people work and are supporting dependants with income less than Rs 20/day without any job security or social security (2007).
Fig 1: Major Problem Areas of Rural Artisans
The skill of rural artisans continues to be old and technology is traditional. Their economic status is far from satisfactory, which makes their marketing power also weak at both selling and buying levels. Their education level is low and their linkages with rural developmental institutions are either non-existent or weak. Their shyness, weak communication power, and tendency to remain “small” and “satisfied” are some of their other problems. The problems of these artisans have been broadly depicted in Figure 1.
Reasons for Problems faced by Unorganized Sector of Artisans:
- Lack of Skills
- Less exposure to Info & Tech.
- Lack of Formal Training
- Absence of non-farm policy
- Marketing support
- Non-competitive products
- Unable to thrive competition
- Application of traditional left over technologies
It has also been revealed that the main cause behind the fruits of S&T developments not reaching these artisans is their non-involvement in the rural development programmes, as outlined in the Box below.
Causes for Failure of Rural Development Programmes
|
These resource-poor artisans cannot afford skill up-gradation at the cost of their livelihood earning. Through interactions with these artisans, their felt-needs or insights have been recorded. Interestingly, these are almost same irrespective of their clusters, with some variations in their rankings. These have been presented in the Box below. As a result, the overall goal of improving the quality of life of rural people remains far from satisfactory.
Some Insights from Rural Artisans
|
Challenges before unorganized sector in India
The challenges before the unorganized sector are linked with the dismal status of infrastructure and communication network in India. Dismal road and other communication network, no electricity for many non-farm units and poor industrial culture (i.e. product design, quality management, packaging, branding, certification etc.) have been some of the marked hurdles in the promotion and propagation of non-farm activities in India. Further to this are problems of inappropriate and unorganized markets, inelastic output, lack of timely and qualitative input supplies, high input prices, inappropriate pricing, stiff competition from organized and big industries, lack of innovation and poor trade practices. Coupled together all this has led to the disappearance of traditional non-farm activities across many parts of India.
Problems and Constraints
Unorganized sector entrepreneurs prefer raising loans from money lenders since it is available at their door-step and that too hassle free, even though the rate of interest is high. The All India Debt and Investment Survey (2002) reveals that the share of moneylenders in total dues of the rural households rose from 17.5 percent in 1991 to 29.6 percent in 2002. What makes the moneylenders services grow in rural and non-farm sector?
The reasons seem to be clear. The information problem is serious in rural credit markets. Banks cannot match money lenders in getting information on the credit worthiness of borrowers and their utilization and repayment capacity. The high rates of interest charged by money lenders is partly on account of collecting information on the credit worthiness of the borrowers, monitoring their actions and ensuring repayments. For unorganized borrowers, timely credit is more important than the associated costs.
Recognizing the significance of the role of rural artisans in shaping the growth and development of the country, NISTADS undertakes ‘S&T studies for weaker sections with a focus on rural artisans and urban poor’. It functions as a bridge between artisans and R&D personnel on one-hand and development functionaries on the other. Several such studies have been carried out and one recent study is presented here as a case study.
Case Study
This study was carried out on agri-implements manufacturers in a small town called Sampla in district Rohtak of Haryana. Sampla cluster is a congregation of 6 villages under Sampla block, which is situated in the eastern part of Rohtak district: i) Sampla; ii) Ismaila-11B; iii) Ismaila-9B; iv) Khari Sampla; v) Ghari Sampla; vi) Kultana. There are about 25 small workshops, while the remaining are micro workshops. A prominent feature of this area is existence of ‘joint-family system’ which provides economic leverage and social security to these households.
A study of the felt-needs (above Box) of rural artisans revealed the requisites of awareness generation, linkages development, training and confidence development in them.
Following strategies were adopted:
- Study of techno-economic status of artisans
- Awareness generation meetings
- Visits of R&D scientists to the workshops of artisans
- Organization of trainings
Techno-economic status of artisans
Data was collected on techno-economic status of artisans of this cluster to find their educational, economic, technological levels through personal interactions with them.
Awareness Generation Meets
It was found that artisans in the area were not aware about various rural development functionaries such as R&D institutions, financial institutions, marketing institutions and training institutions. Accordingly, several awareness generation meets were arranged between artisans and rural development agencies as given in the Box below.
Various Rural Development Institutions
R&D Institutions
Financial & Marketing Institutions
Technical Training Institutions
|
Visits of R&D Scientists to Workshops of Artisans
It was found that skill of artisans was old and their technology was traditional. They had no linkages with R&D institutions. To help solve their problems, visits of R&D personnel were arranged to the workshops of artisans. It provided an opportunity to them to get spot solutions for their problems.
To upgrade the skill of artisans and to innovate their technology, technical trainings were organized for them in the appropriate technical training institutions, such as Division of Agricultural Engineering, Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi. In these trainings, artisans could get exposed to different machines used in the manufacturing of agricultural implements. They also received a chance to get acquainted with and work on some of the latest machines.
Availability of records
Since a sizeable proportion of the unorganized sector workers are illiterate therefore there are no record keeping methods for verifying the status of products and raw materials for better control of the workshop in the unorganized sector.
Impact
The results of a comparative study of the levels of awareness among artisans on various aspects, based on a direct interaction with them in 2004 and 2007, are given in Table 2. The study clearly depicts a significant rise in awareness levels.
Table 2: A comparison of awareness level of artisans in 2004 and 2007
S. No. |
Awareness about |
Awareness in artisans (percentage) |
||
2004 |
2007 |
Change |
||
1 |
Research & Development (R&D) Institutions |
4.0 |
70.0 |
66.0 |
2 |
Technical Training Institutes |
7.3 |
72.0 |
64.7 |
3 |
Commercial Banks |
62.0 |
89.3 |
26.7 |
4 |
Cooperative Banks |
80.0 |
92.7 |
12.7 |
5 |
3.3 |
65.3 |
62.0 |
|
6 |
Khadi and Village Industries Commission |
8.0 |
68.7 |
60.7 |
7 |
District Industries Centre (DIC) |
3.0 |
76.0 |
73.0 |
8 |
Self-Help Groups (SHGs) |
0.0 |
50.0 |
50.0 |
9 |
Different schemes of government for the welfare |
0.0 |
72.0 |
72.0 |
Fig 2: Change in awareness level of artisans in 2004 and 2007
Inventory and Management
The artisans started keeping inventory of their products and raw materials for better control of their workshops. They also started book keeping in their workshops, which would not only convey to them the status of their profits but would also help them in taking loans from the financial institutions.
On the basis of the study carried out in the Sampla Cluster of artisans, certain policy implications are suggested and these have been given in Box below.
Policy Implications
|
For a regular interaction with different institutions, a nodal point has been established in the study area in the form of a Gram Vikash Samiti, comprising artisans and farmers of the area. It aims at the overall development of the area with a focus on women education, health and hygiene, linkage formation with various rural developmental agencies, knowledge upgradation through personal interactions, trainings and discussions, etc. It is hoped that this Samiti will be able to help the member-artisans and others in getting loans from banks for purchasing new equipment and for undergoing training for skill development. It has already organized one health awareness camp and a short training programme for rural women for self-employment in the village itself. It plans to arrange personal interactions with representatives of Cooperative Banks, NABARD, DIC, etc. on a regular basis.
Go back to Home Page of 'India, Science & Technology:2008'